August 16, 2018

By Tiffany Woods 

Researchers aim to help towns prepare for and survive a tsunami. (Photo by Tiffany Woods)

Researchers at Oregon State University have launched a 3.5-year project funded by Oregon Sea Grant that aims to help coastal towns become more resilient to storms, earthquakes, tsunamis and a rising sea. Oregon Sea Grant is providing nearly $900,000 in funding.

Launched in July, the project is led by Peter Ruggiero, a coastal geomorphologist in OSU’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences.

It aims to:

• use a computer model to simulate how climate change, earthquakes, tsunamis, population growth, land use, and hypothetical policy scenarios might affect communities’ abilities to weather coastal hazards;
• help policymakers understand the impacts of their decisions;
• result in a better understanding of options, costs and benefits for adapting to coastal hazards; and
• develop an interactive Web portal that will provide decision-makers and the public with information on how to increase coastal resilience.

Researchers will look at how land use impacts towns’ abilities to weather coastal hazards. (Photo by Tiffany Woods)

Other faculty on the project are:

• John Bolte, an expert in computer simulations in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences;
• Dan Cox, an engineer in OSU’s College of Engineering;
• Steven Dundas, an economist in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences;
• Jenna Tilt, a land-use planning specialist in OSU’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences; and
• Pat Corcoran, a coastal hazards specialist with Oregon Sea Grant and the OSU Extension Service.

The project will conclude in 2022.